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I've been watching season 3 of Transformers and they never gave Rodimus a chance to be a good leader a lot of the episodes he's not included. He shows signs of greatness but, to me Ultra Magnus would have been better leader because he is more mature. Do you think it was a good idea or bad idea to make Hot Rod leader.

I always got the impression that Rodimus was a good civic leader but not really a good military leader.

For much of Season 3 the Decepticons are in a precarious situation strategically and Rodimus never capitalized on it.

But this is really of a piece with what was seen in much of the series: leaders who are capable when it comes to smaller tactical units but lack strategic know how.

Probably the best leader in terms of strategy is Ratbat from Marvel comics: an accountant who decides the course of events with actuarial precision. True, not much for personal leadership style (or anything, for that matter), but one bot that knows how the chess pieces move — so to speak.

Originally posted by Rurudyne
For much of Season 3 the Decepticons are in a precarious situation strategically and Rodimus never capitalized on it.

To be fair, a full scale attack on weakened Decepticons never seemed to be the Autobot style.

I mostly liked how Rodimus was handled in FFoD, they made clear that the Autobots had a leader with a whole new style. Even the "why do I have to be the chosen one" felt more ironic than angsty. It was just the few instances in season 3 where Rodimus got his bad rep. Burden Hardest to Bear, Return of OP, The Ultimate Weapon (IIRC). How willing to get rid of the Matrix in Dark Awakening so soon after he got it didn't help either.

I loved the trap Rodimus set up for Galvatron in Starscream's Ghost. Although that also wasn't the "Autobot style", it was also something you knew Optimus Prime would've never done.

Originally posted by Silly Cow
To be fair, a full scale attack on weakened Decepticons never seemed to be the Autobot style.

Yeh, the Autobots' aim in the cartoon is to get their planet back, and keep their friends safe. Being the aggressors would have jived with this a bit (it's difficult to draw comparisons with the comics, as the writers for that were smart enough not to put either faction is such a stupifyingly powerful position). After FFoD, the impression given by Season 3 is that the Decepticons only really managed the odd sortie from Charr, and rarely threatened Cybertron. So why bother hunting them down?

Rodimus is a lot dryer in S3 than a lot of people give him credit for. It's fun to take the piss out of him, but it is largely unfair. Having been given such an advantage might have been a bit lucky, but he doesn't really let it slip, and largely beats what's in front of him, even if the Decepticons are a joke (Galvatron got stuck in a plasma bath between stories; what was everyone else's excuse?). He never, say, packs all his troops into a dodgy shuttlecraft because Galvatron raids a dress-up store, for example, and he didn't let the Decepticons off the hook as often as Optimus either. And while he employed idiots like Kup, Blurr and Wheelie, he tried not to let them do anything important, whereas Optimus was always giving jobs to losers like Ironhide, Bumblebee and Seaspray. I mean, Rodimus realises how pointless Omega Supreme is (the only time Omega actually works is when the Decepticons' weapon-of-the-week makes them invulnerable to him...) and recruits Sky Lynx instead. Optimus uses the Dinobots as back-up, whereas Rodimus is bright enough to use them for fishing and babysitting duties. Prime had Huffer; Roddy had Pipes.

Always thought it was slightly bad writing that the "Chosen One" got shoved out of the way after a year, too.

Cartoon Rodimus certainly did better than his comic counterpart: "Oh Primus, I'm already utterly depressed and defeated about being leader after two years even though everybody else is fine and they've been fighting longer and...wooops! I've lost the whole timeline. Bugger, Optimus never did that".

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Yeh, the Autobots' aim in the cartoon is to get their planet back, and keep their friends safe. Being the aggressors would have jived with this a bit (it's difficult to draw comparisons with the comics, as the writers for that were smart enough not to put either faction is such a stupifyingly powerful position). After FFoD, the impression given by Season 3 is that the Decepticons only really managed the odd sortie from Charr, and rarely threatened Cybertron. So why bother hunting them down?

Plus, the Quintessons were a far greater threat to the Autobots during Rodimus' reign than the Decepticons ever were. That's not saying much, mind you, but a hostile alien race with an unlimited supply of cannon fodder merits a lot more attention than a band of ~30 ineffectual terrorists led by a frothing lunatic.

Always thought it was slightly bad writing that the "Chosen One" got shoved out of the way after a year, too.

But what happened after that illustrates just how much of the Autobots' success in the previous year was due to Rodimus, doesn't it? For a year under Roddy's command the Autobots were an overwhelmingly powerful force, in total control of Cybertron and with a tight alliance with governments on Earth. Any Decepticon setting foot on either planet got shot in the face within five minutes of making planetfall, and the whole 'Con faction generally feared for their lives.

Then Optimus comes back and five minutes later the Decepticons are holding a victory parade in downtown Iacon and there are giant piles of gutted Autobot carcasses everywhere.

Good work, valiant leader! :rolleyes:

Optimus was not a leader he was a god figure. Rodimus was a good leader.

For Rodimus, the transformation from Hotrod to Prime, from adolescence to adult, takes place throughout the movie. He changes from the carefree young punk who gets his mentor|father|hero|god-like-figure (choose any you think apply) killed, into the guy who kicks Galvatrons a$$. He has flaws, while Optimus had none, notably, he's rash. And since he's responsible for the death of Optimus he acquires some issues with guilt which are sort of explained.



Optimus dies on a table while trying to give the Matrix of leadership to Ultra Magnus. At the moment of primes death the matrix slips from Optimus' dead hand and falls, Rodimus dives, catching it before it hits the ground. (We learn later that the matrix is not fragile.) We can interpret this sequence in two ways, as foreshadowing Hotrod's ascension to leadership, or as a plot twist, where Hotrod is leader merely because he touched the matrix first. I think both apply.



The Matrix rejects Ultra Magnus, but accepts Rodimus. This is an interesting concept. Consider Optimus prime, his would be successor, Ultra Magnus, and compare them to Hotrod. Optimus Prime, is the embodiment of everything good. He's ancient, and wise. He's the offspring of Yoda and Zeus, with motif to match the American flag. (Isn't the series animated in Korea?) Throughout the first two seasons, the autobots are safe, they have Optimus, (no Autobots ever die when he's around) he's incapable of wrong doing, incapable of defeat. He was created for the sole purpose of leading the Autobots in the unyielding conflict with the Decepticons. The Next character in line of succession is Ultra Magnus. Magnus is a reluctant leader. He's responsible, intelligent, strong, disciplined, he's resolved. Magnus is millions of years old. Immortal, again infallible, he's a caretaker and a guardian. Then we have Hotrod. He does what he has to do. He risks life and limb, he makes decisions and becomes responsible for the consequences, not only to himself, but to the people around him. He's both heroic and a leader, while being fallible.






Here is a spoof by Dr. Smoov who addresses your idea. Very funny better than the real episode by far. Optimus Prime has just been revived from the dead.

http://www.genxformers.com/?page=videoC ... deoIndex=2

I think Rodimus was definately a competent leader; but a good leader? No.

For a leader to be effective in combat, he needs the respect of his troops. A good leader needs to appear confident and sure of his decisions, even when he feels neither of these things.

Because of the generally postive atmosphere of the show, we never really know if the other Autobots respect Rodimus, but we do know that Rodimus quite publically displays his lack of confidence in his leadership abilities.

Rodimus either loses the Matrix or is confronted with a better leader("Burdon Hardest to Bear"; "Dark Awakening") several times through out his career, and each time he gives up his position without a fight. In fact, in "The Burdon Hardest to Bear" he flatout refuses to recover the most important Autobot artifact and abandons his friends!

I suppse you could claim that he's simply going through a rough time, and his "inner circle" certainly forgives him easily enough. By I would not want to serve under a leader who displayed such little confidence in his abilities.

Then again, I think that he could have been a great leader, possibly better than Optimus, if he had been allowed to develop further.

I don't think he appreciates or respected the idea of being leader after seeing what he did in Burden Hardest to Bear. I believe it was a hard thing to bear after the greatest of all time Optimus died. He left a legacy like Michael Jordan had with the bulls. A lot of times he is just a long for the ride he doesn't lead or strategize his plan like Optimus did. You see Ultra Magnus come up with all the scemes and plans. The best moments Rodimus has is when he fights Galvatron. He is a good role model to Daniel.

HAHAHAHA

Rodimus was a useless leader, you are right Ultra Magnus was better however if we could have our own way Ironhide would be leader, but alas silly directors kill all the good characters and replace them with, how should i say,... not so good ones!

I feel Rodimus is a reluctant leader, but, when the chips are down, he gets on with the job in hand and makes a good show of it. In many respects, he's the young singleton who has only ever looked out for himself, and, thus, had only himself to blame, who finds himself suddenly placed in a position of the utmost responsibility and, let's be honest, power. To cap that all off, he is following Optimus Prime 'the best of the best', a father-figure whose death he indirectly brought about (perhaps - since we don't actually know if that final shot by Megs was the fatal shot) and is identified as 'The Chosen One'!

Rodimus is still very immature in many ways during S3 and needs Ultra Magnus to help him through; he also does look up to Kup. But he has enough guile and sheer chutzpah to plan in ways OP and UM wouldn't. Frankly, I cannot blame him for throwing the Matrix back when he has the chance or even trying to duck out (The Burden Hardest to Bear), because he's so terribly afraid he'll fudge it all up and more lives he cares for will be lost. This is probably one of the reasons in the cartoon why he doesn't tote off after Galvatron. His lack of confidence has, surprisingly, very little knock-on effect, which I suspect was due to the underlying message being doled out to the children the cartoon was meant for.

I'm more annoyed by the fact that they flunked whatever character devlopment he had received over the season in favor of bringing Mr.Faceplate back to life.

I like Rodimus Prime but Optimus Prime truly is one of a kind as a leader. But I really wanted to see them in the American cartoons as co-commanders of the Autobots and see them do battle with Galvatron and Scorponok as the co-commanders of the Decepticons as that would have been a really cool concept for the follow up to The Rebirth.

Of course I like Rodimus as a leader( ). I agree a lot with spete701 because Rodimus did have his flaws, and he wasn't really given time to grow into his leadership position. As much as we'd like to believe it, leadership doesn't happen overnight. It takes a certain amount of trial and error, and yes, sometimes things do go badly, and they do fall apart, but what makes a truly great leader is his ability to stand up after and say, 'I will do better. I'll learn from my mistakes and I'll learn to be a better leader.' And really, it's the kids' fault. They were all left heart-broken after the loss of Prime and they stubbornly denied that anyone could take his place. They were right in one respect, because Rodimus wasn't trying to take Prime's place. He was trying to make his own.